ATDDTA(10) A Screaming Comes Across The Creek [294-295]

[bekah]

Thanks for the info re the Finns,  Keith.   I've sent my Finlander 
background before.

Just imho,  Pynchon jokes *just a bit* too much about Finns.    It 
was kind of flattering at first,  but it seems to be going on and on. 
They wear skis to dance?  Fwiw,  there were also Norwegians and 
Germans in Colorado at the time.   The Finns came to the US for the 
same basic reasons as the other Europeans,  economic opportunity, 
some political issues, adventure, family.   They did tend to be a bit 
more "progressive" than other ethnic groups possibly from a long 
history without their own king or independence - knowing only the 
imperialist and capitalist enterprises of the Swedes and Russians. 
???  But this was a time of instability and polarization in Finland 
so they were already thinking along socialist lines.   There were 
certainly more  of the very poor (they were recruited in Finland by 
mine owner agents) than the better off.

But economics were not the only reason for immigration.  Some 
immigrants had more money than others.   The situation in Finland 
made a lot of people nervous.  And there were those, like my 
grandmother's first husband,  who were seeking to escape the Tsar's 
military mandate.   They took their funds and bought land in the US 
where they farmed and then did other things.  Many became fishermen 
in Oregon.   Many sailors had jumped ship in California and headed 
for gold country and then later,  to other mining areas of the West.

My own grandfather (Grandma Hilma's second husband) started as a 
sailor, came in through Ellis Island and went to Wyoming or Colorado 
first (1910?)  but after a few years headed to Minnesota where he 
married my newly widowed grandmother.   As a former sailor, he may 
have had some rather "progressive"  ideas prior to becoming a 
land-owning farmer and saw-mill proprietor.   His father back in the 
Aaland Islands was a theologian who wrote books and essays on issues 
of transubstantiation.  (gads - the mysticism)  No wonder young 
Oskar wanted to get away.  (lol)
But a few with a bit of money also came

Most of the people in the teeny-town of Jacobson,  Minn. (30 miles 
south of Hibbing) in the early 20th century were  socialist and 
atheist.  I don't know as I'd call them anarchist.  They didn't go to 
church and they started cooperatives.  Jacobson was not a mining 
town.    My grandparents went to church (Lutheran)  and owned land 
and a saw-mill -  I think they used the cooperatives  for shopping 
and selling grain.  They were poor like everyone else, just maybe not 
quite as poor as some.

In that area,  the mine-owners just replaced the troublesome local 
Finns with new non-Finn immigrants  "shipped in"  (really) straight 
from New York's harbors.  The language barrier was used to prevent 
unionization.

This phenomenon  of Finnish workers trying to unionize happened all 
over the US.   In Minnesota and Colorado there were the mines but in 
Oregon it was the fisherman unions over the money they were paid for 
their fish.  These were independent fishermen caught by a monopoly 
cannery system.  So the fishermen established their own cooperative 
cannery.  :-)

But Pynchon seems to pick up on the backward drunkenness of the 
Finns.  The Finns and their strange accent.   Their Tsar issues.    I 
know their troubles fit well with Pynchon's themes  and they're kind 
of mysterious living up there at the top of the world, 
linguistically more Hungarian than Scandinavian.    And maybe  the 
Finns as a group were a tad more  "progressive"  than  those from 
other European countries.    In Finland they just wanted Russia out, 
or to at least abide by the original agreement.  Lenin found refuge 
there for awhile and promised the Finns independence, which he gave 
after he was in power.    Then Finland had their  truly horrific 
Civil War.    But  Finland didn't turn communist or have any kind of 
a dictator  or stick with her original German ally  and today it's a 
very successful and independent socialist state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_immigration_to_North_America

http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/research/vitrage/all/fa/ihrc716.html

http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/FinnsAmer/finchro.html

Bekah
rambling again



At 10:23 PM -0700 6/7/07, Keith wrote:
>
>-------------------------------------
>
>[294:10-11] "Is who's running their native Finland these days, is 
>the same all-powerful Tsar of Russia."
>
>Finland as a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire (1809-1917)
>
>On March 29, 1809, after being conquered by the armies of Russian 
>Emperor Alexander I from Sweden in the Finnish War, Finland became a 
>semi-autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire until the end 
>of 1917. Old Finland was returned to the Grand Duchy in 1812. During 
>the Russian era, the Finnish language started to gain recognition by 
>both the imperial court and the governing bodies, first probably to 
>sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden and thereafter, 
>from the 1860s onwards, as a result of a strong nationalist 
>movement, known as the Fennoman movement. Milestones included the 
>publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the 
>Kalevala, in 1835; and the Finnish language achieving equal legal 
>status with Swedish in 1892.
>
>In 1906, universal suffrage was adopted in the Grand Duchy of 
>Finland, as the second country in the world. However, the 
>relationship between the Grand Duchy and the Russian Empire 
>gradually soured when the Russian government made moves to restrict 
>the Finnish autonomy. Wishes for national independence gained 
>ground, first among radical nationalists and socialists.
>
>The Independent Republic and Civil War (1917-1918)
>
>On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in 
>Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was 
>approved by Bolshevist Russia but the Civil Wars that followed in 
>Russia and in Finland and activist expeditions, including the ones 
>to White Karelia and Aunus, complicated relations.
>   http://tinyurl.com/mv4qt
>
>---
>
>"Why did the Finns immigrate?" There are a few answers to be found.  
>First, is a quote from the book Finne, The Finns Among Us , this 
>quote is written in Finnish and translated to English.
>
>Pellot ovat palijaina, vainiot vaikeroivat, silla sato on tuhotta, 
>viini kuivunut oljy ehtynyt.
>-translated-
>The field is wasted, the land mourneth, for the corn is wasted: the 
>new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
>
>
>This is the main reason why many Finnish people emigrated to better 
>land, they believed that if they were to make a prosperous living it 
>would no longer be in Finland. Another reason the Finnish people 
>left their homeland was due to "increasing demands for 
>"Russification" by the hated Czarist government. This created 
>visions among the Finnish subjects of ever increasing numbers of 
>conscripts for the Russian army and diminished civil rights at 
>home."  We very often tend to forget the Finland that was our 
>forefatherís home was governed by class distinctions and racial 
>prejudice.  It was rare that you would ever see a wealthy family 
>emigrate, but at the same time the poorer classes were left with 
>very few other options.
>  While Jacob and Elizabeth had come from a wealthy line, the fire 
>destroyed everything they had and thrust them into a class with a 
>much lower rank in their society. At this time of despair Jacob was 
>subjected to the misgivings of Matti Kurikka, a man who would be 
>responsible for the immigration of thousands upon thousands of 
>Finnish people. He was a Russian educated man with a passion for 
>words. He talked of the mystic nature of the ancient Finns. He took 
>his knowledge of Kalevala, a work written by Helena P. Blavatsky on 
>the her belief that the "archaic oral traditions of the Finns was in 
>perfect Harmony with the mystic Wisdom Religion of her revealed 
>philosophy."  With her teachings in mind Kurikka spread this 
>knowledge and encouraged the Finnish people to move to a place where 
>their glory could be worshipped, out from under the rule of the 
>Russian Government.
>   http://www.fawi.net/ezine/vol3no3/emerson.html
>
>---
>
>Finn Town--Ah, the Finns. No one talks about the Finns when they 
>talk about immigrant labor. But throughout the West at least, 
>Finnish immigrants were used for the worst jobs. There were 
>thousands in logging in the Pacific Northwest and a lot in Leadville 
>too. They had their own settlement outside of town. Finns were seen 
>by industrialists as among the hardest working immigrants and thus 
>desirable. On the other hand, they were also known to be the worst 
>radicals and the most given over to IWW sympathies. This did not 
>endear them to industrialists. What was particularly interesting 
>about Finn Town was not necessarily the old buildings but the sign 
>that talked about the saunas they used after work. Just 
>curious--what was in that water they used in the sauna. Bad stuff, 
>but then again how much worse could it have been than they what the 
>breathed in while at work?
>   http://alterdestiny.blogspot.com/2005/07/leadville.html
>